Rock Garden by Sid Richardson published on 2022-08-03T15:11:43Z The primary inspiration for this work is the ancient Japanese art of dry landscape gardens, or karesansui. I find that the static energy implied by the relationship of stones to one another in these Zen gardens can be related to disparate musical objects. As the stones each possess a beauty of edges and lines, they in turn have evoked various rhythms, harmonies, and timbres in this piece for double woodwind quintet. I was particularly intrigued by the numerical rhythm of the garden of Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto. Based on the series 7-5-3, the garden’s composition reflects the propitious nature of uneven numbers in Eastern numerology. Due to its being situated in the middle of the first nine numbers, the number 5 is accorded special significance as a symbol of the center. With the piece’s proportions and rhythms derived from the uneven number series, the layout of the fifteen rocks of the Ryoanji garden permeates its formal structure on several levels. Rock Garden draws on other influences, including the play The Rock Garden by Sam Shepard and the music of the Smashing Pumpkins. It was commissioned by the Tanglewood Music Center and premiered on July 9, 2022, in Studio E of the Linde Center for Music and Learning. It was made possible in part with the support of The Hermitage Artist Retreat. Rock Garden is dedicated with gratitude to Stephen Jaffe. Performance by Tanglewood Music Center 2022 Fellows: Flute 1 - Seungmin Oh Flute 2/Piccolo - Dominique Kim Oboe I - Andrew Port Oboe 2/English Horn - Elias Medina Clarinet 1 - Hyunwoo Chun Clarinet 2/Bass Clarinet - Phoebe Kuan Bassoon 1 - A.J. Neubert Bassoon 2/Contrabassoon - Thalia Navas Horn 1 - Nathan Cloeter Horn 2 - John Michael Flavetta Conducted by Rita Castro Blanco Genre Classical